I guess predicting the weather long-range (or sometimes even short-range for that matter) can be pretty uncertain.  The predictions can be as changeable as…well, the weather. 

While most of us fretted and were constantly trying to work around the drips at the bottom of the ice cream mountain, keeping them from running down the cone and eventually over our hand, down an arm and then all over us, Mom started at the top and just worked her way down seemingly oblivious to the mess.

 "We don't have a real tree,"

Several 'old men' raised their hands...and then their eyes widened as if they had seen a ghost.  That ghost was me - their 8th grade teacher back in 1974.  Actually, they thought I was 'old' then in 1974, but to find me still alive 36 years later seemed unbelievable.